I don’t know if anyone remember this, but there was this ginormous wildfire in Griffith Park last year that took the cooperative efforts of our gallant county and city fire departments to control before it spread to neighboring communities and obliterated the park altogether. As amazing as this was, in the following months the civic pride recognizing the rescue efforts was quickly replaced by community outrage that large portions of the park were off limits to regular citizens.

While park and city officials argued the extended closures were required for displaced animals to readjust, vegetation to regrow, and to ensure trails were safe again for the public, critical residents accused Rec & Parks of mismanagement, poorly updating the public, and dragging their feet; city councilman Tom LaBonge of using the fires to pursue his own agenda while (and hiking in the park without restrictions), and mostly expressing their eagerness to get back to walking, biking, or riding the trails.

And there are those people who thrive in this ego and fame obsessesed city, the “self important jackholes” who expect and demand special treatment from regular citizens because of who think they are or who they know. These are the people who shamelessly drop the line, “don’t you know who I am” either verbatim, or in coded speak. One reader wrote he’d once seen “Kevin Spacey utterly cringe as his boyfriend demanded a table at Fred 62, even though there was a 45 minute wait, screaming ‘Do you know who this is?'” Although, in my experience, A list celebrities are less likely to lower themselves to this behavior than agents and, worse, talent managers.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.Poll closes April 7th.

I’m actually torn on this, because one could be part of the other. I still can’t get the thought out of my head that CITY COUNCILMAN Tom LaBonge needed his own $25,000 website with a vanity domain. At least the city has the money to spare.

Oh gosh, Sophie’s choice. One begat the other here so to be uncharacteristically unselfish for a change, I’m going to vote for the jackholes.

I was one of the critical residents in this situation. While I’m glad the park is mostly reopened now, I must say it provided a front row seat to the antics of so called public officials as executed by the well meaning park rangers who were told little if nothing at all. A common refrain from them, usually delivered with a laugh, was, “Nobody tells us anything.”

I made dozens of phone calls, sent numerous emails, blogged, went to community meetings–all to little avail. So I did what several others I saw doing in the park during that period. I ignored the signs, crossed into the closed areas and enjoyed the park.

If anything, the entire affair diminished my faith in government, at least as it’s implemented by a certain sector of Los Angeles politicians and the self serving, paper pushing climbers they appoint to do their heavy lifting.

I moved from Santa Monica to Hollywood to get away from self-important jackholes. 8 years later, I had to move from Hollywood to El Sereno to get away from an even worse type of self-important jackhole.

I vote jackhole. I don’t even think I’ve been near a fire closure area in Griffith Park and I’m over there at least every other week.

My vote goes to the Griffith Park nonsense. If the self-important jackasses had specifically been limited to the dangerous drivers, they’d have won, hands-down. But the ones who think they deserve a table at a restaurant ahead of me make me laugh. I tip better.

I agree that this is sort of a tough decision. A group of my co-workers and I are about to start hiking in the evenings again now that the days are longer and found that the area we like to use in the park is pretty much open. As someone else said above self-important jackholes have caused the Griffith Park situation, so that’s where I’m putting my vote.

‘Self-important jackhole’ is actually a pretty apt descriptor of someone who crosses poted boundaries into a devastated natural area that will require a lot of time and extensive rehabilitation to set right.